October: Baseball's Showcase

October 03, 1985|by JOHN KUNDA, The Morning Call

If you think Monday Night Football is a big item for TV, how about Tuesday Night Baseball? And Wednesday Night Baseball? And Thursday Night Baseball?

Under ordinary circumstances, Monday Night Football all but buries weeknight baseball, but this is the first week in October, and with the National League East in a heated, down-to-the-wire finish, watching baseball suddenly ranks right up there with the passing, running and hitting of the NFL.

Thanks to WOR-TV (Channel 9), the Mets and the Cards are waging their battle right in your living room. The Mets, you know, have their legion of followers in these parts. They've had support around here in the bad times as well as the good times.

The folks at WOR-TV were ecstatic over the ratings figures for Tuesday night's game. Overnight figures gave the baseball game a 36 share which means the network programming took a big beating in the New York market. Capture the New York market for any kind of show and you got something.

The TV people expected the same for last night's second game and are expecting the same for the third and final game of the series tonight.

Tuesday night's game had all the excitement of a World Series game. It didn't matter that the game was not an offensive showcase, but, contrary to some opinions, a battle between two outstanding pitchers can have its dramatic moments.

And, oddly enough, Dwight Gooden, who has been a joy to watch all season long, wasn't involved Tuesday night. He got his chance last night against Joaquin Andujar.

Ron Darling and John Tudor were the pitching stars Tuesday night. Had they both been allowed to stay in the game, they might have played until five in the morning.

Nice for the Mets that Darryl Stawberry broke up the party with an awesome home run in the 10th. You can't score a sweep unless you win the first one.

Perhaps Tim McCarver said it best when he pointed out that the league championship series is exciting; and so is the World Series, but "the real excitement is getting into those postseason games and this is what we have here."

Actually, there are those who believe the World Series, once the showcase of baseball, has lost a lot of its luster because of the divisional races, which eventually lead to the league championship series. The combination of the two almost makes the World Series anticlimactic.

And just a reminder, the divisional champions will be playing a best-of- seven series for their respective league championships. In the past, since 1969 when division play began, the championship series was the best-of-five.

All that means is we'll have baseball late into October. If the World Series, which doesn't open until Oct. 19, goes the seven-game route, the final will be on Sunday, Oct. 27. That is if there are no weather delays.

First things first, however, and that is the division races.

These down-to-the-wire finishes aren't anything new. We've had them almost since the day the divisions were formed. However, going into the final week with only one champion declared is somewhat unusual.

The final week of the 1982 season, just three short weeks ago, produced one of the alltime closest races in all divisions. Three of the four races were settled on the final weekend of that season, two on the final day.

California won the A.L. West on Oct. 2, while Atlanta won the N.L. West and Milwaukee the A.L. East on the following day.

The only team that had a few days to enjoy its triumph and prepare for the playoffs was St. Louis, which won the N.L. East on Sept. 27. The rest seemed to be the tonic the Cards needed because they went on to win three straight from Atlanta in the league championship series and then beat the Brewers in seven games of the World Series.

It doesn't appear that any team will have a rest break this year. The season ends Sunday, and the playoffs start next Tuesday. Get set for wall-to- wall baseball in October. A little more than we are accustomed to.